Source: David Becker / Getty
Yesterday (May 13), hip hop rapper and producer Jamal “Mally Mall” Rashid was sentenced to 33 months in prison for running a prostitution ring.
As per Yahoo News, federal prosecutors from the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Nevada claim Mally Mall “operated a high-end prostitution business that transported victims across the United States” for 12 years — between April 2002 and September 2014. He pled guilty to one count of the use of an interstate facility in aid of unlawful activity back in October 2019.
According to the prosecutors, the musician “exploited hundreds of victims” and intimidated them by “imposing rules and threatening them so that they would prostitute for him.” From what they shared, Mally Mall was using paid websites “to advertise the victims” — who were either classified as “independent contractors” that Yahoo News noted were required to pay Mally Mall some of their earnings, or “priority girls” who gave the musician around half of all the money they made doing sex work.
According to the report, federal prosecutors also claim he “encouraged victims to get tattoos of him to demonstrate their loyalty, and led many of them to believe he would advance their careers in show business.”
Despite Mally Mall saying “I truly apologize to the court, the government and, most importantly, the women involved” in court yesterday to the judge — and his attorney David Chesnoff requesting that he only be sentenced to two years on account of the rapper’s work helping the homeless and at-risk youth — U.S. District Judge Gloria Navarro in Las Vegas followed the prosecution’s recommendation to give Mally Mall the maximum sentence for his case, plus “three years of supervision after prison” according to Yahoo News.
In a statement to PEOPLE, Mally Mall’s other attorney said on the musician’s behalf, “Jamal accepted full responsibility for his conduct that occurred almost a decade ago. He will serve his sentence and looks forward to returning to the music industry.”
In @theneighborhoodtalk’s coverage of the musician’s legalities, the outlet shared that they spoke with him directly about the sentencing. Shared yesterday evening, Mally Mall reported told them, “I had to take a plea deal to keep from doing 5-10 years for something I didn’t do.”
The outlet further explained that the musician told them a federal agent named Kevin White was “obsessed” with having a “huge case” and subsequently “coerced and even threatened women to speak out against him in exchange for money.” Mally Mall reported told them, “Those girls, all they care about is money, not the verdict.”
The outlet highlighted that their initial reporting on his sentencing claimed his priority girls could make anything from $1,000-$100,000 a day but were only allowed to keep $100 of their profits. Mally Mall didn’t allow his victims to date anyone other than him. Reportedly, he denied all those claims when speaking with them and said that the business he was running was legal because it was running under a “license” similar to one a strip club would have in order to operate.
In short, Mally Mall went on to say that White targeted him after his home was raided in 2014 and again in 2019 and became mad when Mally Mall refused to give up the name of a cop who potentially was conducting themselves unlawfully.
Emphasizing that he didn’t believe in giving up the cop’s name, Mally Mall told @theneighborhoodtalk, “I ain’t no 6ix9ine.” Later, he continued, “I’m going to do the time because I’ll never snitch on nobody, but the things they’re saying about me aren’t true… now that I’ve been sentenced, I can finally tell my side.”
As a producer in the hip-hop industry, Yahoo News noted Mally Mall has worked with Justin Beiber, Usher, Tyga, and Sean Kingston. He’s also appeared on Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood on several occasions.
